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Guest: Dr. Bruce Damer. Topics: Sustainable space exploration to Mars & elsewhere per his two TEDxSantaCruz talks. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Dr. Bruce Damer back to the show to discuss his two new TEDxSantaCruz talks regarding sustainable space exploration and new theories on the origins of life. Watch the first of his two TEDx talks on sustainable space exploration at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLMHcUg36yc. His second TEDx talk addressing new theories on the origins of life can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qiW4aUqtvA. In the first segment of our 1 hour 28 minute discussion, Dr. Damer introduced us to his concept for sustainable space exploration, including round trips to Mars. His spacecraft is the S.H.E.P.E.R.D which he fully explained with great animation in the TEDx talk. This is a method for capturing and enclosing a small but valuable asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, using a chemical process to mine it for volatiles and to fill special tanks with the volatiles and return the cargo to where it is needed, Mars, the moons of Mars, cislunar space, the Moon, or an orbiting space station. Bruce spent the first segment of our program discussing this technology and the concept, plus explaining how it can be used to facilitate and enhance human spaceflight including human exploration of the solar system. The YouTube video is just under 10 minutes so be sure to watch it. Listeners asked him many questions to fully understand the concept so the YouTube talk and his Space Show discussion go hand in hand with one another.

In the second segment, Bruce as asked about the cost to develop, launch, and operate S.H.E.P.E.R.D for a humans to Mars mission. Bruce did not have costs available but used the Rosetta Mission as an approximate guideline for estimating costs. Also in this segment, he noted the use of inflatables in space and the long history of success in using them back to the early days of the space age and the Echo communication satellites. He also referenced Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 on orbit through Bigelow Aerospace. He then said that inflatables would be safer for humans due to less radiation. Don’t miss his comment on this issue. Bruce then talked about water and shielding. As the program was nearing its end, Dr. Damer discussed the second TEDx talk regarding new theories on the origins of life. He also connected the dots for us with both talks so don’t miss what he had to say. By the way, the sustainable space exploration talk opened the TEDx session and his origins of life talk was the closing talk at the event. Toward the end, he talked about outreach with his new idea and said he would be giving a FISO talk on S.H.E.P.E.R.D June 24 so those of you who listen to FISO talks be sure to catch this one live or on archives. Before the show ended, Bill emailed in a question asking him if he had a compelling rational for Martian HSF. Don’t miss what he said about this. A Phoenix listener asked Dr. Damer if his concept would help Mars One. Then a series of questions came in asking Bruce about the use of his idea for going to the Moon, cislunar development, the moons of Mars or someplace else in the solar system. Bruce said it would support all of these missions and explained why. Jim asked Bruce to explain why he thought mining an asteroid would be so difficult and far out yet he was mining volatiles from the asteroids he covers up with his plan. Bruce explained that he was using a chemical process to free up the volatiles, not mining them.